Here it is, looking more like Camp Crystal than what you’d expect to see in Frisco:

Here’s your seating area for the cafe. The worry back in the aughts was that this room was going to go upscale, become an upscale dining establishment. That didn’t happen.

Now back in the day, the old vendor simply raised prices without telling/getting permission from Rec and Park, so today’s prices are basically the same as back in the aughts. The new Family Boat seats six, I figure.

Le Cafe, complete with pink popcorn for sale, as was desired by the alarmist preservationists who supported the former vendor:

Oh, this is new – room rentals

I don’t think the Save Stow Lake people saw this coming, ’cause I don’t recall them complaining about the specter of private parties in a public park, oh well. I think it’s like $100 an hour to have a birthday party in a rented room these days. Naturally, visitors will think a bathroom is where all the people are milling about, so this sign keeps them out and points them across the street, fair ‘nough.

Now if conditions get too rough for you out on the high seas of this quite artificial “lake,” well you can always dial the snack bar and they’ll talk you home, like the air traffic controllers from Airport ’75

So that’s your update.

Now, here’s what’s become of SaveStowLake.org. So who’s selling what here? IDK, but, from Japan, it’s the “Telephone Lady” who has tax tips for you:

IDK, I think this dude’s court-appointed mouthpiece would be happier if dude hadn’t turned off Find My iPhone before negotiating the $180 finder’s fee.

“Uploaded on Jul 10, 2013

A friend of mine dropped her phone. This guy found it, and demanded $180 to get it back after disabling ‘Find My iPhone’. The police agreed to set up the sting. The guy you see from the back in the hat is the undercover cop. He goes to pay the guy and the three others move in. Especially notice the one flick out his baton. At this point, I am asked to stop filming, but allowed to continue after informing the officer of my rights. He only asked I moved a little down the block, which I complied with.

I haven’t heard word one about the long-promised lawsuit what was going to overturn SFGov and re-install the old tenant as the operator.

“The civil lawsuit begins March 2012 and will expose the truth about all the many laws that Rec & Park broke in order to bring in an out-of-state chain, with no boating experience to take over this historic boating recreation site.”

And oh, the lawsuit against the City from the old tenant should have some activity soon, maybe something is scheduled for Superior Court in March 2012.

And the latest from the absurdly-named Save Stow Lake Coalition has to do with paint with lead in it, which, Gentle Reader, I’m sitting two yards from right now. And, this is true for you too, G.R. You know, ’cause paint with some amount of lead in it is everywhere. Simply everywhere. (If it turns out that this coalition is some long-running anti-NIMBY performance art project, I won’t be surprised…)

“The Recreation and Park Department and Ortega Family Enterprises are hosting a community meeting to discuss the upcoming renovations of the Stow Lake Boathouse. The work will include creating an indoor seating area so that the building is open to the public for the first time, adding an accessible bathroom, upgrading the building systems as well as upgrading the general condition of the building.

And, I can find the Official Twitter for Stow Lake Boathouse LLC, right here.

But, to review, I can’t find any evidence of this meeting online.

Oh hey, look, it’s Ortega Family Enterprises’ Armand Ortega hisself, at the last big Boathouse meeting (the last one that I know of, anyway) at the Hall of Flowers.**

Click to expand

Oh well.

*Uh, Ortega Family Enterprises has “boating experience” now, doesn’t it? You might want to change that. And do you want the City and County poking about buildings in your real estate empire looking for paint with lead in it? I’d bet they’d find some. Oh no! And shrillness-wise, you’re giving us a 9. How about giving us a 3 instead? All right, take two, roll film, action.

**Yes, that’s the actual color of the interior of the Hall of Flowers. I call it indescribable green.